Property of a Showgirl: Josephine Baker’s French Manse for Sale

While all pop culture eyes are on the life of a certain showgirl this week — Swift, Taylor — the French mansion of a legendary showgirl from another time is hitting the market.

Villa Beau-Chêne, a 12-bedroom mansion 10 miles outside of central Paris, is on the market for $24.5 million, Mansion Global reported. The listing for the 9,000-square-foot, 19th-century home breaks down to $2,722 per square foot.

American singer, dancer, actress and civil rights activist Josephine Baker used the estate as a respite from her performing duties from 1927 to 1947, according to the Societe D’histoire Du Vesinet.

Louis Gilbert built the property in Le Vésinet around 1890. It sits on a two-and-a-half-acre lot, surrounded by gardens, greenhouses and mature trees. It was also recently renovated to be modernized while retaining its old-world charm.

The entrance is adorned by a purple door, leading into a hallway with colored tiles and an oak staircase. There are parquet floors and oversized windows, as well as carved wooden details on the upper floors.

Four reception rooms overlook the property’s gardens. The dining room has a marble fireplace, while the breakfast area features a coffered ceiling.

On the second floor, there’s a living room and three bedrooms, while more bedrooms are spread across the next-highest floor. There’s also an attic with views of the estate and a finished basement with a guest unit, complete with a fitted kitchen, a workshop and a wine cellar.

Côte d’Azur, Nest Seekers International managing director Patricia Mehl has the listing. The identity of the seller could not be determined.

Baker mostly worked in France and became the first Black woman to star in a major film. She proved to be an enduring symbol of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties, but also aided the French Resistance during World War II and emerged as a civil rights activist who refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States. She died in 1975.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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